The King of Staten Island

Supine millennials passing a bong in a New York basement watching The Purge while discussing the finer points of chlamydia? Yes, it could only be a Judd Apatow movie. After giving the likes of Seth Rogen and Steve Carell their leg-up in the movies, the comedy mogul mints a new superstar in Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson. He plays loser Scott, whose dreams of a tattoo-parlour restaurant are as far-fetched as those of his childhood pal (Bel Powley) to improve Staten Island ("We're the only place New Jersey looks down on"). But when Scott's mother (Marisa Tomei) takes up with a new man (Bill Burr), his self-loathing, "screw you" attitude begins to curdle. A chemist-shop heist bungled by ringtones is among the comedy highlights, while the naturalistic, foul-mouthed script (co-written by Apatow, Davidson and Dave Cirus) works in random intense conversations such as the life cycle of a bed bug. But it's the sheer humanity of the film that elevates this into such a gloriously idiosyncratic slice of working-class life.